Be pre informed or surprised ?

[Kate]

So you all know that stake us bringing a btw game as you all know and we know its like contents a bit but i was thinking do you guys like to be informed first before hand or be surprised about when it is going to be released on the site ?

For me personally i like to be surprised rather than be informed because then the is there is an excitement of when it would be released waiting for it thats why.

So tell me do you Lee to be surprised or informed on when ne games are released ?

P.S By informed i mean pre informed.

[Aazzah]

I'd rather be suprised... Only for the sole fact that i am really impatient and that way i dont have to be patient, it can just happen

[barbaris]

I prefer to be informed in advance. In order not to miss something interesting, it seems to me that it is better to know about it in advance and to be ready for anything.

[Burgerwcheese]

Information is power. It can enable you to act independently and to get help. It’s also reassuring to feel in control and empowered when dealing with a difficult situation. In these situations the first thing to understand are the options in front of you.

Anxiety is caused by not knowing or not being in control.

A story about being stuck on a train

A few months ago I was travelling home from London by train. It’s a regular 207 mile trip that I’ve made at least once a week on average for the past 10 years. We had been experiencing extreme weather in the UK that week with snow and ice across the country which was being labelled the ‘beast from the east’ combined with ‘Storm Emma’.

Unsurprisingly there were serious travel problems that night. I was just happy to get home eventually (even if it was the wrong side of midnight) . It was very much to the credit of the train operators (Virgin Trains) that they got so many people home at all.

What struck me throughout that long evening was a lack of information. I was not informed. A combination of announcements at stations, national rail and website data never left me feeling in full control in the situation. It was more blind faith, hoping I would eventually get home. I also felt the same during the days before I travelled. I was doing my best to regularly check the weather and trains situation while working away in London but without a sense of really being informed.

There was even a point on the journey home that a number of people around me on the train suddenly realised that we were in Stoke-on-Trent. This doesn’t sound unusual until you realise this station is on a totally different railway line than the one we should have been travelling on. We had been diverted long before we realised because the usual line had become blocked. That’s fair enough, but at the time I only confirmed where we were by looking at Google Maps on my phone. There were no apologies, delay times, or announcements made.

Solving the problem of not being in control

Being in control is sometimes as simple as feeling in control, or at least understanding your options even when these might be very limited.

Train services might be an easy target when looking for examples of passengers being uninformed. But most days I read stories of people arriving at stations for trains that should be running or be on time to find a completely different situation, causing them stress and anxiety — just talk to anyone that depends of Northern Trains in the UK — like my friend Simon.

In an age of live updates, open data standards, and push alerts, these experiences could be so much better. Expectations that we all now have for services in a digital age should mean that things like our train services areso much better.

If you’re a designer in these situations then maybe informing people is simply not seen as an important set of problems. But then what hope have we got if your next job is to design for people dealing with a complex welfare system or needing access to critical health services.

If you’re a designer, eventually you will get the opportunity to meet and work with people facing real moments of crises in their lives and not just those facing train delays.

The question isn’t always: how do you provide people with more choice? Sometimes that’s impossible. You’re subject to extreme conditions that are out of the control of the service.

The question is simply: how do you give people a better understanding of the choices they have. How you keep them informed at all times.

By providing relevant, real time information, this is how you empower people to face where they find themselves. Helping them decide and feel in control of what they do next.

[lupandina]

In overall, I like surprises (if it's good surprises ofc), especially when we talking about smth new appearing. But sometimes, if it's change of smth I was using regularly before, I prefer to be informed in advance 

[williamshennie9]

I would rather be warned before hand, so that I can put it in my calendar and count the days down. I don't really like surprises, they don't tend to work out well for me lol. But either way, I love new games added to Stake.

[Furlicious]

I would rather be surprised bcos the anticipation of something is too painful to endure. Lol! It kills me to wait.. 

[polor12]

there are some specific reasons that i want to get informed// like the updates or routine maintenance tot he forum or the site itself.. because having those just pop out of no where can annoying to some players.. other then those 2 things. i dont care about anything else. surprise what ever new game or features that might have in stored for us in the next few months..

[kayke94]

yeah i love it when i get surprised with things ( ofcourse not everything) rather than seeing a timer go by veryvery slowly 

[Hoffguy]

i like surprises like Christmas and opening a present its nice, if told in advance its just like some regular thing and not as exciting imo. So personally I prefer the surprises! But if not surprise method used but instead we were told in advance (which I think we usually are) the good thing is we can feed into it even more, then our ideas can be built into it even before it is released... which will be nice. But overall for me I prefer surprise! Thanks for this interesting question Kate!